not anyone
by verbtastic
Summary: Your hair is so pretty, Sakura. So like your fathers." Why couldn't he have gotten a car for his midlife crisis like a normal man?


_But you can skyrocket away from me  
And never come back if you find another galaxy  
Far from here with more room to fly  
Just leave me your stardust to remember you by  
Stardust to remember you by_

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**not anyone  
by: verbtastic**

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The Summer started out a Promise of Things to Come.

First, Ino and I had both gotten jobs at Fun Quest. We had found out the week before school ended, and spent the remaining time at Ino's kitchen table plotting our weekend escapes - since we finally had the money to get out of Konoha, if only for a weekend. We nearly drove her parents insane with our squeals, and Mr. Yamanaka locked his maps up after we began color cordinating the routes to Suna. Fine, I admit that the color cordination thing was all me. But hey, how was I suppose to know that he would react like a small child with a crayon?

Second, Dad had announced his engagement to Homewrecker. On the exact date that he and Mom got married. Smooth move. But worse yet, Homewrecker expected me to be in the wedding - as the Maid of Honor. She had brainwashed Dad into thinking this was some sort of grand gesture to bridge the gap she caused by being an adulterous whore. In more sophisticated words, of course. Probably something along the lines of mother daughter bonding.

The final thing that would shape our Summer was the biggest - Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto was one of those kids that didn't really belong anywhere. When we were little our parents had told us to stay away from him, but gave no reason. It was concluded over cookies and apple juice that he was possesed by an evil demon, and that he would kill us all if we tried to share our lunches with him. The children of Konoha Elementary School spent the next six years running away from the blond haired boy.

But when we grew older, we learned the truth - he was the Mayor Minato's son, the result of his affair with the beautiful red haired model Kushina. Of course, by that time he had divorced his first wife and married the woman whose perfect face peered out of every magazine we had ever paged through in the checkout line. But that in itself wasn't enough to make us accept Naruto.

He did that on his own.

The boy wasn't very smart, rather obnoxious, wore only orange, and loved ramen beyond all belief. But, as we would all find out in our own various ways, he was a good listener. He spent hours rubbing my back and making sympathetic noises on the front steps of the school when we were twelve. I was certain that my Mother had forgotten me - something that wouldn't surprise anyone who knew my Mother - but he reassured me that the traffic was holding her back, and hadn't I heard about the big accident on the freeway? He had his own awkward charm, as unique to him as his bright hair and beautiful blue eyes. That was enough to make us overlook the demon that he had never housed, his mother whom we all envied, and his rather crude sense of humor.

Not the orange jacket, though. We still hated that thing with a vengance - anyone with eyes would have.

---

It was the second week as gainfulled employed citizens. If you counted Fun Quest and seven fifty an hour gainfully employed. Which, my mother didn't.

"Sakura, when are you going to get a job? I can't keep giving you money for any little thing you ask for. I'm going to have to draw some lines this summer.." She continued on this vein of conversation as I ran down the stairs, the nametag saying HI, I'M SAKURA! :D pinned to my green shirt. (And no, I'm not kidding about the smileyface. There was one on everyone's nametag, much to my relief.) I grabbed a half frozen waffle out of the freezer and stuck it in my mouth, using both of my hands to pull my long pink hair out of my face. My mother was still blissfully ranting to the dishes as she put them into the dishwasher. Dried catsup and microscopic bacteria make a surprisingly good audience. She finally turned around once the last glass was loaded, a glower in her eyes and her full lips pursed. She raised one black eyebrow.

Let me describe my Mother for you. Her name is Kurenai Yuhi, and she's five feet nine without high heels. She has the type of body that stars pay millions for - hour glass, with Cs and no fat to spare. Her hair was originally pink like mine, but she started to dye it black when she was fourteen, and never went back from there. It's because of her eyes, though, that most people don't believe that she's my mother - they're a beautiful red, like you see in paintings about angels or blood. Mom has always reminded me of Old Hollywood actresses, poised and confident, classically beautiful. I can only see a little bit of myself in her. We share the same small, pointy nose ("Aristocratic, Sakura, not pointy.") and high cheek bones. But where my eyes are wide set and big, almost bovine, Mom has beautiful cat-esque eyes, the kind that are always smiling. Tyra Banks would love her.

I saw a picture of her at my age, already taller and skinnier than I am. She had her arm around a boy with dark hair and even darker eyes, with a cigarette dangling from his hand. Her face was blurred slightly, like she had tossed her head back laughing just as someone took the picture. The boy looked amused, and in love. You could tell by the way that he looked at her from the corner of his eyes - like he never wanted to stop. When I was thirteen I finally asked who he was. The look on her face when she said his name - whistful, but sad- told me more than she did. His name was Asuma, Asuma Sarutobi, and he had been the previous Mayor's son. They had been dating for two years when that picture was taken, and he was killed the next day. A heart failure of some sort, something eventual and unforgiving. The day after that, she found out that she had been pregnant. But she lost the baby within a few weeks of discovering it.

"Sakura," she had said, staring down at her perfectly manicured hands the entire time "I love your Father very much, but Asuma...he was my soul mate. Everyone says that they want a soul mate, someone to share their life with. Their perfect match. Asuma was mine, but he died too early." She took a deep, staggering breath, the sound I remember each time I lose my temper with her. "If you ever find that - true love, or whatever you kids are calling it these days - don't let it go."

"Where do you think you're going, Sakura?"

Her voice interupted my walk down memory lane, and I grabbed my half frozen, slightly wet waffle from my mouth and pointed to my nametag with the other.

"To work, Mom. Fun Quest, Ino and I, jobs? Remember?"

She scowled and did an about face that would leave any general applauding. I could see that she was about to launch into another rant as soon as her shoulders rose towards her ears, but luckily at that moment Ino burst into my house, long blond hair spilling over her shoulders and blue eyes wide.

"Sorry to interupt, Mrs. Haruno, but Sakura and I were going to go to work together."

The tension in her shoulders relaxed, and I sighed and grabbed my zebra stripped purse off the table. Ino took the opportunity to snatch my waffle out of my hand and cram it into her mouth.

"OI, PIG!?"

She shot me a playful smirk and ran out the door, a display of the never ending energy she was known for. I followed behind, mourning the loss of my breakfast.

---

It was after lunch that Naruto came in, the big grin he shot Ino looking particularly white against his tan.

(Really?

Two weeks and he was already tan?

Siiiigh.)

"Hey, Ino!"

His voice was booming, even in the frenzy of small children rushing around on sugar highs.

"Hey, Naruto."

Ino had leaned over her counter (we had been put on prize duty. I swear, if I had to see one more set of fake vampire teeth...) and matched his volume, the arms that were crossed underneath her chest resting on the counter. They proceeded to have a conversation, ending in Ino handing over a very large Snoopy doll and three plastic spider rings.

"Hey, do you and Sakura want to come play laser tag with me?"

I looked over at him, then to Ino. She gave him a cool smile, then scratched her earlobe - a signal that we had developed in third grade. If we both got invited to do something together with a boy that one of us liked, we would subtly scratch our ear and the other would gracefully bow out.

I was saved the trial of making an excuse that Naruto would believe by a small child with glasses. I turned to do my job, like a good slave, as Ino slipped out from behind the counter and walked away with the boy that none of us really knew.

"Hi! I want those!"

He pointed to a set of vampire teeth, and I thought my head would explode.

---

Homewrecker's real name was Konan. She sat opposite me, cuddling my Dad as he read the menu. She was six years younger than my Dad, with long blue hair and grey eyes. She _was_ beautiful, but I hated her. Her navel and her lip were pierced, and her feet left very small footprints when she walked. An origami flower was always tucked behind her ear, and her there was ink wings on her back. They worked at the same company, my Father and her. She was his secretary, the same woman who had smiled at my Mother when she brought him the lunch he forgot, and probably listened at the door while they fought about her distruction of their marriage - and cheered silently when he chose her over us. I can see why, even if I don't want to admit it. Konan is more comanding than Mom, wants world peace more than anything, and is very religious. But she still has that rocker-artist vibe to her, the wordly creative type. While Mom was exceptionally beautiful, she was more maternal than crazy rocker chick. And I guess that's what my father wanted in the end.

Sighing and stabbing a leaf of lettuce with my fork, I turned my attention to my father. Nagato was his real name, but since cheating on my Mother with Homewrecker, he liked to be called Pain. He also liked public displays of affection, and judging by his new abundance of them, piercings. He had also started going to church every Wednesday with Konan, despite never having stepped foot in a church before she came along. I had noticed in the car that he had picked up some of her views on life - that they couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't have a baby with all the death and distruction in the world. "It wouldn't be fair to bring such an innocent life, so pure and beautiful into this corrupt world." Were his exact words. It seemed that he forgot I was _his _child and not some Amish girl visting from the country side. I shuddered silently as they played tonsil hockey, and concentrated on my salad. More specifically, hoping that it wouldn't be coming back up anytime soon.

With an audible smack, they disentangled themselves. I could feel the people surrounding us staring, sneering, laughing. Wondering how a man with orange hair and a woman with blue hair had a child with pink hair. It was enough to make me want to wear a sign "DISCLAIMER: NOT MY PARENTS. I WAS ABDUCTED. HELP ME."

Mom might even understand. She's the only one who hates Homewrecker more than I do.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Homewrecker clearing her throat. I looked up and she wasted no time catching my eyes, while still _petting_ my Father's neck.

"You have such pretty hair, Sakura. So like your father's."

I gave my Father a pleading glance.

Why couldn't he have gotten a car for a midlife crisis, like a regular man?

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_tbc_

**a/n:** i was inspired by the movie how to deal, and the books that its based off of, that summer and someone like you. the imagining of the movie with naruto characters is what lead to this.

oh, and i own nothing. DD:


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